Who says you can’t go home?
Tina Charles broke out of her funk with 21 points and 6 rebounds to help the No. 1 UConn Huskies get past the St. John’s Red Storm 77-64 at Carnesecca Arena in Jamaica, NY.
The UConn women improve to 24-0 (10-0 Big East) while the Red Storm fall to 15-8 (3-7). This is the first time the Huskies have opened a season at 24-0 since 2002-03.
Renee Montgomery also added 21 points and 7 assists while Maya Moore had yet another double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds to go along with 4 blocked shots. Tiffany Hayes continues to impress since being thrust into the starting role as she added 12 points. The only other Husky to score was Meghan Gardler who had 3 points before fouling out.
Stamford, CT native Da’Shena Stevens led all scorers in the game with a career-high 27 points and had 9 rebounds for the Red Storm. Kelly McManmon added 13 points and Sky Lindsay chipped in with 10 points.
St. John’s held a couple of 1 point leads early on and then stayed close with the Huskies for the first 7 and half minutes. Then with UConn leading 22-20, the Huskies went on a 9-0 run to open up an 11 point lead. The Red Storm cut the lead back down to 8 points at 34-26 before a 7-0 run opened up a 15 point lead at 41-26. The Huskies took a 45-30 lead into the locker room.
Over the first 4 minutes, the Huskies built their lead to 20 at 54-34 before St. John’s made it a ball game again with 13-0 run to cut the lead to 7 points. Like any championship caliber team, the Huskies took the blow and responded back with a 6-0 run to keep the Red Storm from pulling off the upset of a lifetime.
The lead swelled to 19 at 75-56 when Moore hit two 3-pointers and Hayes added one of her own. The Red Storm would get no closer than the final margin the rest of the way.
Everyone expected the Huskies to blow out the Red Storm tonight and yes at times it looked as though might happen. But a resilient St. John’s team gave the Huskies a test and it was a test that the Huskies passed.
For Charles, it was good to see her bounce back from her poor efforts the past few games. She must now use this and build upon it as the Huskies close out the regular season.
The Huskies are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they host the Pittsburgh Panthers at 3:30 PM at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies @ St. John’s Red Storm 2.11.09 women’s basketball box score
The starters were Renee Montgomery, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
This was the 32nd consecutive regular season win for the Huskies.
De’Shena Stevens’ 27 points were the most scored against the Huskies this season.
The Huskies shot 45.2% (28-of-62) from the floor while St. John’s shot 39.7% (25-of-63).
UConn had 19 assists on their 28 made baskets.
UConn shot 66.7% (12-of-18) from the free throw line.
The Huskies were outrebounded 42-37 by St. John’s.
UConn outscored the Red Storm 30-22 in the paint and 13-4 on the fast break.
The Huskies did take good care of the ball as they only turned it over 6 times while St. John’s had 12 turnovers.
